Divers take the plunge

DIVERS from Greater Manchester are helping preserve the wreck of the world's first steam-powered submarine. The Resurgam II was designed and built by a Moss Side clergyman nearly 130 years ago but sank off the north Wales coast in 1880.

DIVERS from Greater Manchester are helping preserve the wreck of the world's first steam-powered submarine.

The Resurgam II was designed and built by a Moss Side clergyman nearly 130 years ago but sank off the north Wales coast in 1880.

Members of the Trafford Sub-Aqua Club have been down 65ft below the sea's surface off Rhyl to carry out vital conservation work on the vessel.

The submarine was the idea of the Rev George Garrett, a Moss Side curate and inventor, in 1879.

The divers from Trafford removed debris and replaced a series of metal rods used to stop the hull from corroding. It is hoped the wreck will one day be salvaged and find a home in a museum.

Neil Smitham, of the sub-aqua club, said: "It was a big honour for the divers from the club to be able to assist with the continued efforts to preserve the wreck, especially as it has such connections with Manchester."

The 40ft-long Resurgam II was one of two early submarines built by Garrett.

He was a pioneer of submarine design and is also credited with inventing the diving suit.

He built the Resurgam II in 1879 as a follow up to the man-powered Resurgam, which he created in 1878 and which was nicknamed the `curate's egg' because of its shape.

Resurgam II's submariners had to shut off the furnace and chimney before diving but the superheated water in the boiler meant it must have been unbearably hot inside.

It was also very unstable. It sank as it was being towed through Liverpool Bay in 1880.

Garrett went on to design submarines for the Turkish navy and later emigrated to America, where he became a corporal in the US Army Corps of Engineers. He died in New York in 1902.

The Resurgam II has been lying at he bottom of the bay since it sank, without loss of life, as it was being towed to Portsmouth for evaluation by the Admiralty.

It was discovered in 1995 by Keith Hurley, an experienced wreck diver, and was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act the following year. The hull is intact but is at risk from illegal diving and trawling. Some items have gone missing.

Volunteers surveyed the hull and searched for debris as part of a project co-ordinated by the Nautical Archaeological Society in 1997.

Trafford Sub-Aqua Club have carried out preservation work at the request of Welsh Heritage.